


Pouring Rain

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4098286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rain never stops. A few droplets are the start of a flood. In a world of pouring rain, how do you keep yourself dry?</p>
<p>AU in which Nagato didn't meet Yahiko and Konan right away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pouring Rain

The rain in Amegakure is incessant. Jiraiya glares at the sky in an attempt to stop the raining. It doesn’t work. He scoffs and looks back down. He isn’t even sure why they’re here; the war’s quieted down significantly. They should be out where it really counts, not walking in the rain looking for people to stab. Tsunade seems to be thinking similar thoughts. 

“Yes, yes, I know, it sucks here, but the Hokage says we need to be here so we need to be here,” she says, not sure if she’s convincing herself of Jiraiya. 

“I just think we should be doing useful things. This is boring; we’ve been walking in circles for hours.”

Beside him, Orochimaru looks at him blankly. “We’ve walked at least ten miles from the base.”

“You must be great fun at parties,” Jiraiya mutters.

Their silence is broken only by the sound of pounding rain. No wonder it’s Amegakure, Jiraiya can’t see two feet in front of him. He’s not exaggerating, either.

Two shadows appear up ahead. The trio brace themselves in case of a confrontation, as per their jaded reflexes. They loosen when they realize that it’s two children, a boy and a girl. They’re too far away for Jiraiya to tell what they look like at this point. The boy takes a step forward.

“H-hello there!!”

“…hello. What do you want? We don’t have time for small talk.” That’s a lie, of course. They had been out for hours doing absolutely nothing but walking. 

“I-I’m Yahiko, and this is Konan. We saw you guys a few days ago and we wanted to ask you something.” Yahiko scratches at the wet dirt with his shoe. Jiraiya notes that his apparel seems very worn out. “We were wondering if you could teach us ninjutsu.”

For a few moments, the trio doesn’t speak. They simply stare at the boy in front of them. Tsunade is the first to break the silence.

“Why?”

Yahiko grows somewhat excited. They hadn’t turned him away! That’s a good sign, right? 

“We’re orphaned, from the war. And we’ve noticed that where we live has become very dangerous…we want to know how to properly defend ourselves.” Yahiko doesn’t mention that he also wants to find better ways to steal food without being noticed. They don’t need to know that.

Tsunade’s gaze softens. Orphans, huh? She can relate. She begins to take pity on Yahiko and Konan. “Well, this is a war-ridden area. You’re bound to run into some trouble at some point.”

Orochimaru sneers. “We’d better off them and get it over with, then.”

Yahiko and Konan cringe and step backward, and Tsunade glares at him. “Shut up Orochimaru, what are you saying?”

“What’s two less street urchins polluting the world? Nobody would miss them, especially not if we off them both at the same time. Two less people stealing food.”

“Orochimaru! What’s gotten into you? You’re being unreasonable!” Tsunade huffs as Orochimaru just shrugs and turns away from her. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just a jerk.”

Yahiko fiddles with the end of his shirt. “He’s right though, nobody would miss us. But I…” he pauses, then looks up at them. “…I don’t want to die.”

“Nobody wants to die, kid,” says Jiraiya as he watches him. “But we can’t do anything if you don’t have any talent. Can you show me something?”

Yahiko’s fiddling stops and he motions for Konan to come forward. She does so, and bows slightly. Holding shaking hands out, she offers them a paper rose.

“I…I made it from wrappers I found in trash bins. I make them all the time.”

Jiraiya kneels and studies her work. It’s very well put together, and seems sturdy even in the rain. He nods, and smiles at them. At this point they’re both visible, but Jiraiya doesn’t study their appearances. “This is nice work. Ah, I can’t refuse a couple of orphans who give me a rose and ask me to train them. Alright, I can handle this.”

Jiraiya stands and nods at Tsunade and Orochimaru. Tsunade smiles, pleased, while Orochimaru’s face grows upturned, and he continues to look away. Yahiko and Konan share a look of surprise, then relief. They’re finally making their dreams come true!

\--

Jiraiya led them to a small cabin a little ways from the base. Luckily, there were towels there they could dry off with. Tsunade and Orochimaru watched wearily as Jiraiya and the kids walked into the nice, warm cabin, while they were still confined to patrol in the pouring rain. Jiraiya smirked a little on the inside at the idea of Orochimaru being jealous of him.

Now that they’re inside, Jiraiya gets a good look at him. The boy is young but already has a strong build, and his skin tone hints that he spends a lot of time outside, even in the rain. His eyes are a pretty shade of honey brown, and his hair, orange and spiked up, is like a burning fire. Konan is just the opposite, pale, and with pastel lilac hair bordering on blue when wet. Her eyes, however, contrast beautifully with her other features: vibrant titian. 

Yahiko dries his hair vigorously, then shakes like a dog, spraying Konan. She laughs and flicks her towel at him. Yahiko grins and tackles her with the towel, rubbing her hair down as fast as he can. When he pulls the towel away her hair is fluffy and messy, and he laughs as Konan pouts and tries to fix her hair, to no avail.

Jiraiya laughs and rubs them both down until they’re dry. Then, he takes the towels away and puts them on a line to dry. After some getting comfortable, Jiraiya sits in the middle of the floor on a tatami, and motions for them to do the same.

“Now…I think there are some introductions to be made. I’m Jiraiya, Lord of the Toads and author extraordinaire! My specialty is ninjutsu, so this is your lucky day! No autographs, please. And you?” he motions to Yahiko, grinning.

Yahiko had never heard of Jiraiya before, but he doesn’t say so. “I’m Yahiko, but you already know that. I’m pretty good at cooking fish…and hitting things.”

Jiraiya sweatdrops. Yahiko is going to need some work. Konan coughs a little.

“Um…I’m Konan. I like to do origami…especially roses. I don’t like hurting people. Oh, and I like blue.”

Jiraiya outwardly deadpans. So they’ll both need work. He sighs. He signed up for this, he should be willing to bring them up to standard. No problem, he’s done this tons of times before.

“Alright…well, Yahiko, I think you’ll do great with taijutsu if you’re good at hitting things. Konan, I think we need to get through your dislike of hurting people. You can’t freeze up or hesitate in a fight…trust me.”

The rest of the day is spent talking with Yahiko and Konan about their varying skill areas, and how to work through their flaws. Finally, the sky grows dark, and the rain pours still outside, never halting or wavering. 

Jiraiya sighs. Maybe he shouldn’t lead these kids on. It’s not like he actually plans to teach them ninjutsu…he just feels a little guilty. He is participating in the war, after all. This is partially his fault. He shakes his head. He’ll teach them how to fish and get their own food, but other than that, they’ll be on their own. That’s how it works in the real world. He falls asleep through his troubles and guilty conscience.

As Jiraiya and Yahiko sleep, Konan slinks to the window and leans against the sill, eyes closed as she listens to the pattering of the rain. 

When she was a child she loved to hear the rain fall outside. The desirable white noise helped her sleep at night when she was scared. Her mother would come and lay with her on days when there was lightning outside. She would lie there with her mother, head leaned against her chest, listening to the beat of her heart.

Konan’s brows furrow as repressed memories come to light. A spray of red, the sound of a sword against bone, a shrill scream. She whimpers and leaves the window sill, curling into herself under the window. That rain that once brought her peace has brought her turmoil. All because of one mistake…

She falls asleep with dry tears coating her cheeks.

\--

It’s dark.

An abyss that consumes, a darkness unwavering…it’s so very, very, dark.

There’s a rustling from the right. There’s shaky breathing to the left. Something falls. Someone curses. All in the all-consuming darkness.

“It’s okay, baby…” a hushed voice. A woman. “It’ll be okay…we will keep you safe…”

She isn’t telling the truth. Her voice is shaky. She is scared. Why is she scared? The darkness is warm…it is comforting. 

Is this what death feels like?

\--

The next morning, Jiraiya wakes them up by dancing around and singing to a popular Konoha song. “Wake uuuup, wake uuuup, time to wake uuuup!”

Yahiko groans and pulls his blanket over his head. He’d slept on the floor as per usual, and had gotten a stiff neck. The motion makes him cringe, but the pain isn’t enough to make him not do it. Jiraiya yanks the blanket away from him and pokes at his head with his foot. 

Next to them, Konan squeaks. She scurries out of the way, having been startled awake. Sometime during the night, she had moved from her spot under the window to her blanket pile. She’d been fortunate enough to wake up without any sore muscles. She opens bleary eyes to watch Yahiko attack Jiraiya as he avoids and blocks everything with ease.

“Yahiko…cut it out,” she says tiredly. Yahiko pouts and crosses his arms. 

Jiraiya laughs out loud, but his mind works ablaze. Yahiko’s hits hadn’t hurt him, but they were strong. Stronger than any other kid his age’s would. He was inexperienced, that’s for sure…but with some work he could become a legend. He feels a little guilty that he won’t be participating in that upbringing, but taijutsu isn’t his specialty anyway. 

Jiraiya leads them out to a lake. Yahiko and Konan look around in confusion. The rain is light today, so it would be perfect for field training. So why the lake? Jiraiya answers the question by tossing them each a fishing pole. They look at them, then at him, then back to the poles, and so on. 

“If you’re going to get off the streets you have to get your own food. I’m teaching you how to fish.”

“We need to learn how to fight, though…getting food can come later, right?” asks Konan, a little disappointed, but hopeful.

“Not at all, food is more important than battle. Can’t live without food.” Jiraiya keeps to himself that in Amegakure, you can’t live without battle, either. Especially not in times of war.

Yahiko and Konan begrudgingly oblige to Jiraiya’s teaching, but something in the back of their heads yearns to confront him. He’s teaching them useful things, if not in the order they would like. They do need to get food at some point…learning to fight can come later.

A few hours later, the three return to their cabin, fully worn out. Yahiko flops onto his blanket pile. “Jeez, if I’m this tired after fishing, what’s fighting going to be like?”

Konan is fatigued as well, and sits down slowly next to him. “It’ll be a whole lot worse…but if we take it slowly I’m sure we’ll get through it.”

Yahiko laughs. “You’re so optimistic. How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Act like everything is okay and we’ll be fine. How do you do that?”

Konan smiles a little. “Because everything is okay, and we will be fine. I know it, I can feel it. We’ll be okay, we just have to pace ourselves. We can’t learn everything all at once.”

“Yeah, I guess so…but that seems so boring, doesn’t it?”

“It might be boring, but learning is valuable. Especially if we’re learning to fight. No matter how slow or boring, learning is learning, don’t you think?”

Yahiko hums. “Hm, I guess. You definitely know how to find silver lining.”

Konan giggles. Jiraiya watches from the door entrance, feeling a little sad again. His guilt has been nagging at him a lot…as to be expected. But he stands his ground, he will not teach them to fight. And why should he? He has other duties to attend to. Babysitting the brats is enough work. He groans, he sounds like such a jerk. Shaking his head, he swipes on a smile and walks over.

“Tired already? That wasn’t even an hour!”

“We were out there for at least five!”

“Really? Hm…felt like less time to me…I was enjoying the breeze.” Jiraiya produces a large fish from his back. “And catching this.”

Yahiko and Konan both pout. They hadn’t caught a single fish, but Jiraiya hauled in three big ones. 

“Showoff…” Yahiko mutters.

“Hmm? What was that?” Jiraiya says dangerously.

Yahiko yelps as Jiraiya gives him a noogie. Konan laughs in the background, Yahiko struggling and Jiraiya snickering. 

\--

Liars.

They’re all liars. Each and every one of them.

A flash to the left. A scream. A choke. What’s happening?

A leaf.

The leaf.

The leaf is bleeding.

The leaf…will pay.


End file.
